New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is entering the final year of his current contract.
This is usually the time teams look to extend a players deal in order to keep them from entering the season, their uncertain contract status looming over their heads with a potentially acrimonious negotiation nearly all but assured and the abominably expensive franchise tag - the "push in case of emergency" button for contracts - always hiding in the organization's back pocket.
The Giants have reportedly reached out to Manning's camp recently to see if a new deal can amicably be struck.
Unfortunately, not much headway was made, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.
"The New York Giants recently had another conversation with the representatives for quarterback Eli Manning, but the two sides are no closer to agreement on a contract extension and the Giants are comfortable letting Manning play out the final year of his contract, two sources close to the situation told ESPN.com on Sunday," Graziano reports.
The Giants, per Graziano, still believe that Manning is their quarterback in a long-term sense, but determining a fair market value for the 34-year-old, two-time Super Bowl winner and MVP will be difficult, especially after the Pittsburgh Steelers handed their own franchise signal-caller a big bundle of cash this offseason.
"According to the sources, the Giants had been keeping a close eye on the contract extension talks between the Pittsburgh Steelers and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who had only one year left on his contract before he agreed to a five-year, $99 million deal last week," writes Graziano. "The Giants believe Manning will ask for more than Roethlisberger got, and at this point they don't appear ready to make that kind of commitment."
The Giants could create somewhere in the vicinity of $11 million in cap space by doing an extension for Manning now, but with almost nothing of significant value left on the free agent market and thus, no dire need for spending money, there's no rush for either side to get a deal done.
Manning, slated to make $17 million in salary and count $19.75 million against the cap, had one of the best statistical seasons of his career last year, thanks in large part to the emergence of young wideout, Odell Beckham, Jr. Manning completed 63.1 percent of his passes - the best mark of his career - and finished with 4,410 yards passing and 30 touchdowns.
With the injured Victor Cruz expected to return to health combined with the continued development of Beckham, Rueben Randle and running back Andre Williams and the offseason addition of the versatile Shane Vereen, the Giants offense have even bigger things in store for next season.
